Is this the date of the first missed payment or the date of the last payment? AND Does anyone know if the SOL clock in Texas (4 years) starts with the last payment or the 1st missed payment??? Oh yeah, this is in regards to an unsecured signature loan not a CC or other open account.... Thanks! ~PoppaJim
Jim: I can't help with the proper definition of Date of First Delinquency, but I am writing to say that Texas state law has some very specific pro consumer aspects to it which make it distinct from all other sets of state laws across the USA. Let me know via PM if you are interested in specifics. Sorry if this is redundant. The laws are in the Texas Finance Code, and require CA's to validate or delete within thirty days, when notified properly by the consumer. I don't live in Texas, but it seems clear from my reading that most consumers do not realize how much stronger their state laws are compared to the Federal Laws.
Since this is a signature loan,it will fall under written agreement.Here is sol compliments of Why Chat's info. TEXAS (Community Property State) STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS Open Acct.: 4 Written Contract: 4 Date of first delinquency defines when debt was put in a default state.It is used on sol for civil actions. It is also used on a seperate sol for reporting purposes to the credit bureaus.
The "Date of First Major Deliquency Reported" is the date that the account first became deliquent, and was NEVER brought current. Let's say your account became deliquent by 30 days on 12/06, then it is 60 days in 1/07, and your NEVER make a payment, then the DOFMD is 12/06. The reporting timeline is 7 1/2 years from the DOFMD (12/06), so the account would fall off your credit reports in 6/2013. This timeline would hold if you made a payment in 3/07, but only paid say one months payments, and the account was NOT brought "current". If you bring the account current (by paying all past due amounts), then the "clock starts all over. As a note, the "Date of First Major Deliquency" is not often reported, and you will see on your credit reports that the CRAs will use "Date of Last Activity" (which is usually your last payment). This is allowed under the FCRA, but the CRAs will generally use the 7 year reporting SOL with a DOLA. Hope this clarifies, any further questions, please post.
Thanks BizWiz41, Let me pose a hypothetical.... Let's say that a person who really wanted to pay off their debts, even in the face of financial catastophy, (Like say the 2001 high tech job market and stock crash that cost them EVERYTHING but their house), was making payments to a loan company and let's say that those payments were $200 a month. Then assume that at some point it became impossible to make those $200 monthly payments, but to show their intention to eventually pay off the note, that person started making $20 payments each month. Hey, it's better than nothing right? For purposes of legal (not reporting) SOL would not the loan have defaulted with the first $20 payment??
Unfortunately, no. The "legal recourse SOL" is reset with every payment that you make. In such a case, the "legal" aspect and the "ethical" aspect conflict. By making a small payment, you are technically "breaking" the terms of the negotiated settlement. But...the fact of making any payment restarts the clock for legal SOL of collections. Bluntly, I know it "sucks", but that is the legal end of it. I appreciate your situation, as someone who also paid dearly when the "bubble burst"! But, this hypothetical situation is a great example of where it pays to be educated, and realize that "doing the right thing" is not always the smartest thing!
